We live in a society to a large extent controlled by money.  HQ costs money.  Bodyguards cost vast sums of money.

Some members of our society are rich.  Some, it is said, are obscenely wealthy.  That is, their wealth is in the hundreds of millions.

Traditionally, members of La Cosa Nostra have loaned money, and charged large rates of interest - known as vig.

One of the wealthiest men ever to walk these Streets was known as Caius.  He would loan money to others and make millions off of interest payments.

There have been others.

So, to the wealthy among us today: Why doesn't anybody loan shark any more?

Don’t have time for people’s leaders to cry when I shoot people who don’t want to pay. I even went as far as to think about opening a bank, but it would have to be a collective to successfully pull it off.

It's the issue of trust and the hassle of collecting vig payments (or dealing with excuses or pulling triggers). Maybe what's needed is a "review council" who will review the borrower and determine if he/she is worthy. 

And of course, this council will be super rich.

Levi Jones prepared drinks for Kuku, Booogie, and others who may want to join the discussion. 

Mikhail was taking a break from busting his comrades out of jail as he continued his attempt to reach Godfather Chairman for Las Vegas... It was tiresome. Hundreds of comrades were being broken out without much of an end in sight. To get a break from it he started to stroll the streets. Seeing as one of his comrades recently got out of jail, he wanted to see what Kuku had to say. This talk about loansharking and hows it nearly gone from our sacred world intrigued Mikhail. He wanted to give his own perspective. 

"To me theres a few reasons why loansharking has been on the decline. The major one is there is no way of ensuring your loan is backed by anything other than someone's word. Someone can take a loan out and up right end their life while leaving you short. And then when you attempt to find or collect your money on the next of kin, you either can't find them or get caught asking around for past aliases and get in trouble with city hall.

Between that and dice, people get too irresponsible to pay back their loans. Degenerate gamblers care more about their next big winnings and tend to delay their pay back. Or even when they have it, they decide to not pay it back until the agreed time. Which may be in some people's eyes alright, but when you've been around here long enough you know the devil in them will make them lose it again. And then you're back at square one attempting to make your collection when you know theres not much you can do. It is heavily favored to the borrower and its just too risky these days. 

To me there is no good way to loan money anymore other than just to your friends. And you can't charge your friends interest..."

Perhaps Kuku & LeviJones is right. Maybe if those with money got together with those in power, we could set up a system that could be used for years to come.

Interesting, and perfect timing.